Journeys in the heart and mind of the not-so-typical Southern Male

Apr. 2nd, 2011

I've written before about the importance of saving and being financially healthy. I got a reminder today of why doing so is such an amazingly good idea.

I had to make a trip to Chattanooga today to deal with a family matter. When I left this morning from Huntsville, all was well. But as I pulled off the Interstate in Chattanooga, I could no longer shift gears in my truck. I had the clutch pedal pressed all the way to the floor and it took all my body weight to get it to shift into first. Eventually, I quit trying and just started trying to get going in second, but after awhile even that was taking a lot of effort.

So I made the decision to limp the truck to the dealership in Chattanooga. Unfortunately, they would only be open until 1pm, so my chances of getting something fixed, unless it was simple, were pretty low.

So my sister picked me up and we took care of our family business. While there, I got a call from the dealership. They checked all the simple things - brushings, pumps, fluids - and all were fine. The guy was confident - as am I - that it needs a new clutch. Which is going to run me $820 and change. And since they closed at 1pm and aren't open on Sunday, it will be Monday at the earliest and possibly Tuesday before they are able to get it repaired. Which means add another $100 for a rental car.

So all things totaled today probably cost me about a thousand dollars.

But I'm not sweating this. Why? Because each paycheck I set aside money for savings, and each month, whatever is leftover unspent from that month goes into savings. As I've been doing this for years now, I have over $10k set aside in my "emergency" fund for just this reason. This is why that money is there. If I hadn't saved I would be absolutely up shit creek right now. All of this would have had to go on the credit card to be paid off whenever. Now, it's still going to go on the credit card, but so I can get the rewards points - it'll immediately be paid out of my emergency fund.

I know this sounds preachy, but I just cannot emphasize enough how important it is to save money. Even if it means buying one less video game a month so that you can put $50 into a savings account, it's always a good idea. Then, when karma decide to rear its ugly head, you're prepared.